green boy flower boy
by whichlights
Summary: Lloyd is kinda sick of being the Green Ninja. He's actually really sick of it, because it sucks. He storms off where ever he won't be bothered by his team. He is getting bothered, but it's by a cute boy his age, so he doesn't mind too much.
1. Chapter 1

It was the forty fifth night in a row he'd had a nightmare.

Lloyd woke up in the middle of the night, heart racing. It was raining outside- he saw lightning flashing outside the window. The Bounty was waving back and forth, thrown by the wind. They'd been in worse storms, but Lloyd had recently come to hate them. A lot. Especially if they were windy.

If he focused, he could hear his teammates on the deck, making sure they didn't capsize. That didn't ease Lloyd's fear of the storm. He would be up there helping, but he'd injured his leg a week ago, and his mom would _kill him_ if he exerted himself running around on a slippery wet deck in the wind.

Lloyd sighed and wrapped his blanket around him, turning on the light he kept on his night stand. He'd felt silly buying it, and he felt silly turning it on, but as long as he didn't refer to it as a night light, it served its purpose.

 _Some Green Ninja you are._ Lloyd snorted to himself. _Scared of thunder storms._

The bottle of water that kept permanent residence on his nightstand was wobbling, so Lloyd grabbed it and held it against his chest as he hugged his knees close to him. He wasn't planning to drink it- he'd kept it there since the Morro incident, and it was probably room temperature and gross by now. He felt better with water close by.

Eventually the storm let up, and the Bounty rightened itself. The wind stopped. Lloyd managed to resume his normal breathing. The team had held out fine without him. _Seems about right- you're only useful when the bad guys can use you for their own purposes. Otherwise, you fall down the stairs and sprain your ankle._

Lloyd sighed and rubbed his head, trying not to think about his latest nightmare. It was a reoccuring one- his dad, trapped in the Cursed Realm, and asking Lloyd to help him, but Lloyd couldn't control his body. Then the Cursed One sank into the sea, and the Cursed Realm was destroyed, and that was always when Lloyd woke up.

 _I suck at my job._ He thought. _Well, whatever, it's a sucky job. Where do I hand in my resignation?_

Even though Lloyd had thought the last part semi-sarcastically, he was part serious. There hadn't been any real trouble for months, which had given him much needed time to rest. But there was always _something_. Maybe it wasn't his dad, hellbent on turning Ninjago into his own image and turning into a giant dragon (he still had nightmares), or the thing with the Overlord in the digiverse (lots of nightmares there), or the tournament of elements at Chen's island (more nightmares), or Morro possessing him (definitely nightmares definitely), or the thing with the djinn and his wishes (okay, so Lloyd had a lot of nightmares), but there was always something.

Of course, that something was usually stuff like _mall_ _break ins_ , which wasn't exactly Lloyd's purpose. Just stuff like that- not serious enough to be traumatizing or life threatening, but enough to where he was always on edge. It _sucked._

Lloyd usually didn't let himself wallow in self pity, but it was like three am, so he allowed himself a small pity party. Everyone wanted him to act like he was, he didn't know, Wu's age or something. He was just a seventeen year old kid, and he just wanted a break. He quit.

Could he do that? His destiny was to be the Green Ninja. Could he quit destiny?

 _Worth a shot_. He thought to himself, and got out of bed and started to pack.

 _I'm a jerk._ Lloyd thought as he shouldered his backpack. He wasn't telling the others where he was going- he wasn't even telling them he was leaving. He thought it was kind of rude for them to just wake up and realize he wasn't there, but he had left them a note. Then again his note just said, _I'm fine, don't look for me_ , so there was that.

Lloyd had a vague idea where he wanted to hide out. He didn't want the others to be able to find him, because, yah he was a selfish jerk, and if he was running away, he was running away _well_.

Of course, it wasn't going very well at the moment. He had managed to get to the deck of the ship, avoiding Nya's room (she had ears like a hawk or something, she would have caught him), dodging Jay on his way back from a midnight snack, and was trying to figure out the best way to get to the ground without alerting anyone when someone asked "What are you doing up here?"

Lloyd jumped and turned around to face Kai. "Oh. Hi Kai. Nothing just, going for a stroll." He tried for a charming grin, but it probably came out really guilty.

Kai crossed his arms. "A walk? Before sunrise? Lloyd, you'd sleep in until noon if we let you."

"Change of heart!" Lloyd said. "I'm active, I'm healthy!"

"Where are you really going?" Kai asked.

Lloyd sighed and didn't look him in the eye. "I didn't want anyone to catch me, but I'm glad it's you. Tell everyone I'm fine, I didn't get kidnapped for some malicious purpose. I'm just... leaving."

"Leaving? The team? Lloyd, you're our leader!" Kai snapped.

"I'm seventeen!" Lloyd snapped back. "And if I'm the leader, then I say I'm not anymore, and I'm leaving. Effective immediately."

"Why?" Kai asked.

"If I told you all my reasons, the others will be awake before I'm done." Lloyd said. "The short version? I'm tired."

"What about Wu, and Misako? You know, your _mom_?"

Lloyd bit his lip. He had been purposefully ignoring that. "I'll come back when the sight of this place doesn't make me want to scream. See ya, Kai."

Deciding that since he'd already been caught and there was no purpose in trying to be stealthy anymore, Lloyd jumped off the side of the Bounty, and summoned his energy dragon. It wasn't a real dragon, just a manifestation he could ride, but he tried to feel comforted as he hugged its neck and it flew him away from Ninjago City.

 _I'm a selfish jerk._ He thought to himself.

Kai kicked a piece of wood or something that was nearest to him. "Dammit, Lloyd." Kai muttered, starting to get ready to follow him, when Wu showed up, asking in his calm voice, "What was that? Was that Lloyd's dragon?"

"He's running away." Kai said, Sensei Wu's eyes widened considerably. "He can't be serious."

"He is." Kai turned back to point to where Llloyd had flown off, but the dragon was no where in sight. Kai kicked the piece of wood again, sending it flying across the deck. "He's gone, Sensei."

"I have to tell Misako. We have to find him. Wake the others, organize a search party-"

"Are we sure we should? I want him back as much as you do, he's like a little brother to me, but-"

Sensei Wu sighed. "If nothing else, wake the others and tell them the Green Ninja has vanished.

On a scale of one to ten, Lloyd would say his hiding place was about a seven.

He looked at the trees where his old tree house had been, the one he'd made the Serpentine build for him all those years ago. He smiled a little at the memory. Parts of the original were still there, but they were old and rotted. He cleaned those out first.

It took him three days to rebuild enough of his tree house for him to decidedly live in. For nostalgia's sake, he kept to the original design (including the booby traps), though he might have cut out one or two floors to make it smaller. It was just him, after all. Just him living there and just him building it.

It wasn't the fanciest thing in the world, or even the best looking. Lloyd was pretty sure it would support him, though, and he needed a place to crash.

Ninjago City had been completely out of the question. Too many people, too many signs with his face on it. Other villages were either too far away or not friendly enough for his purposes. Besides, he kind of wanted to avoid most people.

Any of the ninjas' old hiding places were too obvious- same for the Samurai X cave. Other places he'd had in mind were too complicated.

Besides, he was pretty sure none of them would look here. After all, it was a tree house in the woods. Most of them had forgotten about the incident.

Lloyd sat in his tree house, eating an apple he'd packed. He had about a week's worth of food, then he had to figure out something else. He had a blanket and a change of clothes, and a spare hoodie, and a bottle of water set aside for not drinking.

The tree house was close enough to the very edges of Ninjago City that if he was fast and careful he could get food and get out when he needed it.

So, yah. Pretty much the perfect place.

On the fourth day, it was a Saturday, and Lloyd was a little bored. He worked on the tree house still, but not as much as the first three days, when he needed a shelter. Now he just did it for aesthetics.

It was some time in the afternoon when Lloyd heard something rattling downstairs, followed by a soft curse. Lloyd froze, and started to gather his stuff as quietly as he could. _No way they already found me-_

But the voice hadn't sounded like any of his teammates. Lloyd's curiosity was piqued. Even though he was packed and ready to bolt, he stayed put.

Five minutes later, a boy walked up the stairs to the large open top floor that Lloyd had claimed as his room. Lloyd stared, but only a little. The boy was maybe an inch (maybe two) taller than him, tan brown, with a curly mop of red hair, and dark green eyes. He smiled at Lloyd. "Oh, hey, someone was here."

"What?" Lloyd managed, still somewhat in surprised shock.

"I come out here every Saturday to clear my head. I saw the tree house and got curious, so I climbed up to see if I could find anyone, and then I ran into the booby traps. Then it was a matter of keeping my honor."

Lloyd couldn't help it- the notion that this boy's honor would have been damaged beyond repair if he'd turned away from a tree house full of booby traps and trap doors made him laugh. "What's your name?"

"I'm Micah." He said, smiling and sitting down in front of Lloyd. "You?"

Lloyd considered lying, but he was a little off guard, and Lloyd wasn't _that_ uncommon of a name. "My name is Lloyd."

"What are you doing up here, Lloyd? This your place? Because let me tell you it is _awesome_."

Lloyd smiled. "Yah, it is. How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"Hey, me too." Lloyd's smile widened. He didn't remember the last time he'd had a friend his age. He dug into his bag and tossed Micah an apple. He caught it in one hand and took a bite. "Thanks." He smiled. "So what are you doing up here?"

Lloyd shrugged. "I'm in hiding."

Micah raised an eyebrow. "Are you a criminal?"

"What? No!" Lloyd snorted, and picked his words carefully. Micah apparently hadn't recognized him so far. "Just from my past. It's complicated."

"Alright." Micah said. He took another bite of his apple. "I run a flower shop." He commented casually.

Lloyd started laughing again. "No way."

"I do! It's my mom's legally, but it's practically mine. Stop _laughing at me_."

"I'm not." Lloyd giggled. In some part of his mind, he registered that Micah had brought the conversation away from the gloomy topics it'd been on. He appreciated it.

"I bar my soul to you-" Micah started dramatically.

"You told me your day job." Lloyd corrected him.

"You laughed at me!"

"Not _at_ you." Lloyd corrected again, still laughing a little. "Just... a flower shop? The way you _said_ it-" Lloyd started laughing again.

"What, I needed the extra cash in summer." Micah laughed too. He had a strange smile- it was more like a half smile, with one side reaching farther than the other, but it managed to light up his whole face, and show a little bit of his teeth (and it was kinda cute) and he smiled then. "I usually only come out here on Saturdays, but I don't want to wait a week to see you again, and I think you'd get bored. I like to think I'm not boring."

"You're not boring." Lloyd agreed completely.

"I'll come back sometime tomorrow?"

"I'm not going anywhere. Come whenever you want."

Micah looked at his watch. "Okay, I actually have to get going. Bye, Lloyd!" He ran down.

"Watch out for trap doors!" Lloyd called after him, and leaned back, still sorta stunned, kinda fascinated, and a little bit charmed.

* * *

 **my tumblr is witchlightsands, my ao3 is whichlights. this is also posted on ao3. pls help me i dont know how works**


	2. Chapter 2

"Alright," Nya said, pulling up a map on the Bounty's screen. Several dots were on the map, in varying sizes and colors. "Zane helped me come up with a system to decide where Lloyd could be. The bigger the dot, the more likely he's there purely statistically due to travel time. The color of the dot indicates various reasons he would actually go there."

"Hm." Kai said.

Nya waited for him to say more before continuing. "Blue is access to water and food, red is secrecy, green is places he's shown to be partial to in the past. Obviously as you can see, there are more colors, but those are the three that we care the most about."

"I've run an analytics and contrasted the likelyness of him being in each place." Zane added.

"And I threw in my common sense." Nya added after that. Five sheets of paper printed out, and she handed one to each of them. "These are lists of areas to search, from most to least likely. I'm not expecting you to get through it all today, but one or two would be nice."

"Wait, why is Ninjago city at the bottom of the list?" Cole asked.

Jay squinted then looked up. "Yah, it's the biggest dot on the map."

"Because we're right above it, and Lloyd's not stupid enough to hide in a city we're right above." Kai snapped.

"And where his face is on every billboard." Nya agreed. "Besides, it's our rendezvous point."

"Okay, got it." Cole saluted her and ran off. The others departed.

Nya looked at her own list. Darkly's School For Bad Boys, or whatever they renamed it. She sighed. This was going to be a long day.

Lloyd spent most of the morning following and failing to catch lizards. When he'd spotted the first one, he'd held out his hand to it and it had run away. Then he did some more searching, and had found five already. Not that he'd caught any of them.

But he was close to catching this one. He could do it.

With a fierce battle cry, he reached out and grabbed the lizard before it could get away. "Caught it!" He yelled proudly, holding the little green lizard on his hand.

"Wow, I come back and you're hunting reptiles." Micah laughed, walking up. Lloyd turned to face him, grinning. "What are you, a cat?" Micah snorted.

"Nyah." Lloyd said.

"I'm leaving."

"No, wait, Micah don't goooo." Lloyd put the lizard down and watched it run away. "What's that?" Lloyd asked, pointing to the drink in Micah's hand.

"Caramel mocha frappe." Micah shrugged. "About half is left, you want some?"

Lloyd shrugged. "Why not?"

Micah handed him the frappe and set down his backpack. "I brought a ham and cheese sandwich, because it didn't look like you had much in the way of actual food."

"Is this part of your plan?"

"You've uncovered my nefarious plot to keep you from dying of malnutrition." Micah said dryly, with a smile on his face. "Want it now or later?"

"Later. Thanks though. I'm getting tired of apples."

"Please don't tell me you only brought apples to your hermit tree house."

"I brought water too! And I'm not a hermit!"

"All you need is the scraggly beard, and you're a hermit." Micah laughed, stroking his chin thoughtfully like he had a beard. Lloyd rolled his eyes. "You're a dork."

"Also, so, like, I told my mom about you some, just that you're nice and a hermit in the woods-"

"I'm not a hermit." Lloyd continued to argue.

"Anyways, you're officially invited over for dinner." Micah rubbed the back of his neck, face red. "I mean, if you want. And sorry, I have a habit of calling lunch dinner because my mom does it and-"

"Wait, what, back up?"

"You've been invited to dinner slash lunch with my family? They're chill, I promise?"

Lloyd smiled. "They won't mind my lizard hunting ways?"

"Nope, they don't mind that you're a lizard hunting hermit."

"Just one question- do you have a hoodie I can borrow that isn't green?"

"Why, you have a personal vendetta against the color?" Micah laughed.

Lloyd smiled. "Yah, something like that." If I wear a color other than green maybe my chances of being spotted go down.

"Here, take mine." Micah pulled his hoodie over his head, leaving him in a grey T-shirt that was just barely too small for him and read "Let's Get One Thing Straight- I'm Not".

Lloyd choked on the frappe. Micah tossed him the hoodie. "What?"

"Sorry, I laughed and I choked." Lloyd cleared his throat. "I like your shirt. Relatable content."

Micah grinned.

Lloyd had one question about Micah Reols.

"Is your hair dyed or natural?" Lloyd asked as they walked up to the door of his family's house. Micah lived on the very edge of Ninjago city, so Lloyd wasn't exactly too worried about being seen, but he kept his hood up just in case.

"Mm, wouldn't you like to know." Micah replied with a smirk, ringing the doorbell.

"Well, I'm about to meet your family, so-"

A woman opened the door with a smile. "Micah! You brought your friend I see."

"Hey mom. Mom, meet Lloyd, my hermit friend."

"Still not a hermit." Lloyd mumbled and shook her hand. "Hi, seems your son already told you about me."

"Come in, you must be hungry." She ushered the boys inside.

* * *

 **my tumblr is witchlightsands and my ao3 is whichlights**


	3. Chapter 3

Lloyd had never been completely at ease in new situations, but he adapted quickly. It was a survival skill. There was always... something about a place. It was too bright or too loud or smelled funny and it all rubbed him the wrong way until he could steel himself and just ignore it.

For once in his life, a place he was going didn't have any of that mess.

Micah's house was surprisingly calm, dim, and didn't have any fans making an obnoxious noise. There was a smell, but it was the smell of food cooking. Lloyd's stomach started to rebel, growling loudly. "Sorry." He said.

Micah's mother smiled at him. "You're fine. But can you wait about five minutes?"

"Sure."

"I'll help." Micah offered.

"You know the last time we had all four of us trying to make dinner it was chaos. You and your boyfriend can just relax for a little."

"He's not my-" Micah started, but his mother had already left. He looked at Lloyd, blushing. "Sorry about that. She assumes anyone I bring over for dinner is a romantic partner."

"It's fine." Lloyd said. "Four of you?"

"Me, my mom, my dad, and my little sister Sinnia. Do you have any siblings?"

"No. I've always wanted a sister, though."

"What are your parents like?"

Lloyd thought about how to respond to that. In the end, he just said, "my mother is a genius and my father was my hero."

If Micah caught the difference in tense between the two, he didn't say anything.

"Your mom doesn't have red hair." Lloyd noted, wanting to switch the conversation around.

"Hm, red hair is a recessive trait." Micah pointed out.

"Like blonde." Lloyd said absently.

"You're blonde?" Micah blinked.

"Yeh? Is my hair that dirty?" Lloyd looked around for a mirror.

"It looks light brown." Micah admitted. "You're serious? You're blonde?"

"God, I need a shower." Lloyd sighed. "I'm blonde. And I still haven't figured out if you're a natural red head or not."

"It's natural." Micah laughed. "I have some pictures of five year old me to prove it. Why are people so embarrassed of their baby pictures? I _peaked_ as a five year old."

Lloyd laughed with him.

Micah thought it was sweet how well Lloyd and Sinnia got along.

The twelve year old had _demanded_ to sit next to Micah's boyfriend, even though Micah had tried to tell her, no, Lloyd wasn't his boyfriend, just a hermit who lived in a tree house and apparently was a blonde. Sinnia was adamant, and Lloyd ended up sitting between Micah and Sinnia. Lloyd was apparently great with kids, because Sinnia adored him.

"How did you two meet?" Micah's dad asked Lloyd.

"I was walking in the woods and he was being a hermit in his hermit tree house."

"Micah, for the last time, I'm not a hermit."

"A hermit in all but looks." Micah said. "So we met each other a few _days_ ago, and he is _not_ my boyfriend, thanks."

"Do you wish he was?" Sinnia asked.

Micah wanted to bury his face in his hands, and preferably die of embarrassment. "Next line of questioning?"

"What were you doing out there?"

Lloyd took a little to response. "Just... couldn't handle my old life any more. I needed a break. Needed to sort out some stuff that happened to me on my own time. Needed to... I don't know, have a little part of my childhood back."

"Well, if you ever get lonely out there, you're more than welcome to stay here." Micah's mom told him. Lloyd smiled at that.

There was a muffled thunder strike, and Micah might have imagined it, but he thought he saw Lloyd jump. "What was that?" He asked.

"I'll go check. It might just be an electrical storm." Micah's dad got up, taking his plate to the dishwasher on the way.

"You're not going back to your tree house in this weather, are you?" Sinnia asked, tugging at the sleeve of Micah's hoodie that Lloyd was wearing.

"Depends on how bad it is." Lloyd said.

"Nope." Micah said. "I'm not sending you outside to get rained on and blown away by whatever wind got conjured up this time. You can stay here until it lets up."

Lloyd paused, and Micah could practically see him weighing his choices. Micah's dad came back into the kitchen. "Well, it's really storming out there. Why don't you stay here?" He told Lloyd.

"Okay." Lloyd stuffed his hands his pockets and gave a small smile.

The sun (curse it) set early this time of year, so by the time the sun had set, not only was the storm still going strong, but it was way too dark for Lloyd to walk back to his tree house. If he wanted to, he could have summoned a light with his powers, but that wasn't exactly something he wanted to tell the Reols.

Eventually, Lloyd had also taken a shower, and when he came out, in a set of fresh clothes and basically feeling awesome, Micah just kept staring at his head. "You are _blonde_." He whispered. "Like... that is _blonde_. You were not kidding, you are really really blonde. Under all the dirt."

"Thanks."

Micah's house didn't have a spare room, and no matter how much Lloyd said it was fine, he could sleep on the couch, Micah insisted on digging an old sleeping bag out of the back of his closet and Lloyd sleeping in his room. "It's a sleepover."

"That's so dorky."

" _Sleepover_." Micah insisted.

"I have literally zero experience with sleepovers." Lloyd admitted. "Or, normal teen things in general?"

"I don't know, they're just a fun time." Micah shrugged from where he was sitting on his bed. "In all honesty, I never had many friends growing up, so. Yah."

Lloyd snorted. "My friends are all several years older than me, or my uncle."

"Your _uncle_?"

"Yep." Lloyd sighed. "Do you believe in destiny? Because destiny didn't want me to have a childhood."

Micah frowned. "That sucks. Want to catch up now? I'm pretty sure Netflix has some bad kid cartoons we can binge watch."

Lloyd snorted. "Really?"

"What? Yes, really! You want to?"

"Maybe later." Lloyd stared at the window, and saw a flash of lightning. In the distance, he could see papers and debris being thrown around by the wind. He pulled his sleeping bag closer to him.

"What's your greatest fear?" Micah asked. "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

"Just one?" Lloyd huffed.

"How about this- we take turns?"

"Fine. But this was your stupid idea, so you go first."

Micah hummed. "Someone thinking I'm straight."

Lloyd laughed at that. "What a mood..." Lloyd played with a stray strand at the hem of his shirt before saying. "A really big fear of mine? Someone figuring out I'm not straight and murdering me."

"God, what a messed up world we live in." Micah muttered.

"Yah." Lloyd agreed. "Moving on?"

"I'm pretty scared of snakes." Micah said. "They're just? Why are they like that?"

"Wind." Lloyd almost whispered. "I'm scared of wind. It's so _dumb_ , I know it can't hurt me but it... I can't do it."

Lloyd looked at his hands. "I'm also scared I'm never going to live up to my father's legacy," he whispered. "What if I can never be good enough for him? What if I tarnish his memory because I'm such a screw up? He was my _hero_ , and I always looked up to him... what if I can never make him proud?"

"I'm scared that people will realize that underneath the four layers of sarcasm, bitterness, cockiness, and humor, I'm actually just really scared." Micah blurted. "And I'm scared because once they get past all those layers, there's... me? And what if they don't like me? What if they leave? What if a million what ifs and deep down underneath it all I'm just a scared teen and no one likes me?"

"I like you." Lloyd said, mostly because he didn't know what else to say. And he did. He liked Micah.

"I like you too." Micah smiled.


	4. Chapter 4

Nine times out of ten, Lloyd had nightmares. He'd had them for years. They never went away, just shifted accordingly to add in whatever messed up thing was happening in his life at the moment. Every once in a while, he didn't dream at all, if he was lucky. It was usually for just a night or two.

He dreamed that night.

He was in the Cursed Realm, and he was alone. In the distance, he could hear a familiar laugh that he would have described as haunting if making a pun didn't feel so wrong. "Morro." He muttered, his hand going to his sword. He didn't have a sword. He summoned a small burst of energy, enough to light up the surroundings. "Face me, coward! Fight me!"

"You're the green ninja? I should have known sooner destiny made a mistake!" Morro's voice came from everywhere. Lloyd was alone.

"Destiny doesn't make mistakes." Lloyd muttered.

Morro's presence was pressing against his mind, wanting to take over again. Lloyd screamed out in terror and curled into a ball, trying to fend off the inevitable.

Suddenly, Morro's presence was brushed aside like it was a leaf in the wind. Lloyd looked up. In the distance, he could see his father, smiling at him softly. Lloyd stood up, beaming. "Dad?" He whispered.

"Lloyd."

"Dad!" Lloyd ran towards him, but the closer he got, the smaller he seemed to get, and his father didn't look like his father.

The Overlord ended up towering over Lloyd, with glowing purple eyes. Lloyd was weaponless, and felt very very small. Like he was a child again.

Alone.

The Overlord breathed a purplish flame at him, and Lloyd screamed.

Lloyd's eyes snapped open. His throat felt sore. He caught himself mid-scream. He was shaking.

Lloyd analyzed his environment, momentarily forgetting where he was. Then he remembered. Then he realized he was a goddamn idiot.

Lloyd curled up further in his sleeping bag, actually burying his head under the fabric. He had no idea what time it was, and he was not eager to go back to sleep.

There was a slight sound, and Lloyd poked his head out enough to see Micah stirring. "Lloyd?"

"Sorry." He whispered.

"The hell? Are you okay?"

"Nightmares, they're just dreams, I'm fine." Lloyd brushed it off like he had a thousand times before. You okay? I'm fine, Kai, stop asking. Are you alright? Yes, Sensei. Are you fine? No, me, I'm not.

"Seriously, I'm used to them, I'm fine." Lloyd continued. "I... I just... arg."

"Do you like candy?" Micah asked. "Because in my opinion, the best cure for feeling bad is just eating the thing with the highest concentration of sugar. Sugar therapy. If you want to."

Lloyd blinked. "Candy?" Even the word felt weird. Like it was for a nine year old, part of a childhood he barely had. "You're serious?"

"Unless you don't want to for any reason-"

"Dude, I have like the worst sweet tooth in the world, and I've never tried 'sugar therapy', but it seems worth a shot."

It didn't help much overall, but eating Hershey's on the back porch at 4 am made Lloyd feel a little more grounded, in a weird way, so it helped a little.

(And if it was at 4:47 am eating Hershey's on the back porch when Micah looked back at him and smiled slightly and asked "better?" that Lloyd realized he might have liked Micah a little more than he originally anticipated, that was fine.)


	5. Chapter 5

The sky was grey, but Lloyd didn't want to intrude on the Reols' hospitality any longer than he had to. He rubbed his arms and looked at the sky. Maybe it would rain again, but the wind was dead.

Micah had insisted on walking him back to his tree house, even if Lloyd said no, no it was fine. He was fine. Micah was still walking Lloyd back to his tree house.

They made it halfway back when it started to rain.

Micah tilted his head back and Lloyd watched as he laughed and allowed the rain to hit his face. Lloyd just pulled up the hood of his borrowed jacket and laughed alongside Micah.

"Damn." Micah whispered. "Shoulda brought an umbrella."

"Run for it?" Lloyd asked. Micah grabbed his hand and pulled him through the streets of Ninjago City leading to the Birchwood Forest.

Lloyd's smile never left his face.

"Hurry!" Micah laughed, pulling Lloyd up the ladder stairs. Once they were in the main part of the tree house and out of the rain, they laughed even harder.

"We're soaked." Lloyd gasped, out of breath. Micah pushed Lloyd's hair out of his face, a slight smile on his lips.

"Yah." Micah said, and his voice shook. "You can keep the jacket."

"Thanks." Lloyd said.

They were standing. Standing wasn't weird. They were standing… pretty close together. Micah's hand was still lingering near where he'd pushed the hair out of Lloyd's eyes. He bit his lip. "This is awkward."

"Only if you make it awkward." Lloyd countered. Micah was, what, an inch taller than him? Not much. All Lloyd had to do was-

What did he want to do?

"I… haven't been completely honest with you." Lloyd admitted. "My… my name is Lloyd Garmadon. I'm the green ninja."

Micah blinked, surprised, but he didn't recoil. He didn't take his hand away. "It doesn't matter who you are. Well, I mean, it matters , but I meant- what I'm trying to say is- oh, for God's sake…" Micah took a deep breath. "I still like you."

"I like you too?" Lloyd whispered, not sure if that was the right thing to say.

"What if this ruins everything?"

"What if this makes everything better?"

Micah might have rolled his eyes slightly at that, because Lloyd admitted it was kind of cheesy, this was cheesy, a confession in the rain, really, but Lloyd didn't see him roll his eyes. Because Micah had already brought his head down and kissed him.

Damn.

If Lloyd had to choose a first kiss, this was good. He had exactly zero idea what he was doing so he just shut his eyes and let it happen.

Micah drew away after a second or two, but Lloyd grabbed his shirt and refused to let him move. Excuse you, Reols, we're having a moment. Maybe that was the silent signal Micah had been waiting for, a yah, you're not going anywhere because he relaxed.

Lloyd eventually pulled away and pressed their foreheads together. "That was…" He smiled. "Not bad."

"Not bad? I'll have you know, I'm a great kisser, men and women have swooned at my charms-" Micah laughed, and Lloyd realized Micah's hand was gently holding his.

"I'm not really the swooning kind of person." Lloyd snorted. "I'm not entirely sure what swooning is? Like, I know the context, but not the dictionary definition."

"No one cares about the dictionary definition," Micah said. "You're a dork, Lloyd Garmadon."

"You're the one that kissed me." Lloyd pointed out. "I mean, it was awesome, but it was your own idea."

"Mmm, one of my better ideas." Micah admitted.

"So, what are we now? Does this have a label? Does it need one?"

"What do you want to be? I can think of at least five labels to put on this. A fling, dating, a damn good idea, experimenting-"

"Dating?"

"That okay? Too much?"

"Micah, I kissed you."

" I kissed you ."

"But I kissed you back." Lloyd lightly hit his arm. "I wanna be your boyfriend."

"Okay, can you say that again, but this time kiss me?"

"I want to be your boyfriend." And it might have been a little extra, but Lloyd got on his tiptoes and kissed Micah's forehead.

"I can't believe I'm dating a hermit who lives in a tree house in the woods."

"Micah please."


End file.
